Rhode Island Attorney General Warns About Phone Scams

Amid a surge of scam phone calls in Rhode Island, Attorney General Peter Neronha is warning residents to be aware. Usually targeting the elderly, scammers will often call pretending to be a grandchild asking for money.

"We have warned Rhode Island consumers about the so called 'Grandparent Scam' in the past, which targets the elderly and involves the caller posing as a grandchild or relative in urgent need of money," Neronha said.

In "grandparent" scams, the caller will pose as the person's grandchild saying they are in trouble and need money right away. Sometimes, the scammer will pretend to be a police officer or lawyer and say their grandchild has been arrested and they need to send money for bail, or some other emergency such as getting into a crash, losing their wallet or needing to buy an airline ticket.

If you receive a call from someone claiming to be your grandchild, do not give them any personal information or money. Ask them something only the real person would know, or hang up and call your grandchild or their parent directly if you're worried the emergency might be real.

In many cases, the scammer will "spoof" a local number on the caller ID to hide where they are actually calling from. Sometimes, Neronha said, scammers will use the number for Rhode Island Attorney General's Office.

"Rhode Islanders should rest assured that no one from the Attorney’s General office will be calling them to ask for money," he said. "Anyone receiving such calls should hang up immediately and not share any personal information with the caller."

Here are some more tips to avoid being scammed.

1. Don't answer phone calls from numbers you don't recognize.
2. Do not offer personal or financial information over the phone.
3. Ask callers, especially anyone pretending to be a family member, to identify themselves by name.
4. Do not respond to questions, especially yes or no questions—this only allows the scammer to learn more about you.
5. Never give out your bank account number information, social security number, passwords or common answers to security questions such as your mother's maiden name, the name of a childhood pet or friend or other similar information if you do not know who the caller is.
6. Be suspicious of anyone who pressures you to give out personal information right away.
7. If you receive a call from someone claiming to be from a government agency, sheriff's office or company, hang up and call the agency directly using a verified phone number from an agency website or mailing. In most cases, you will receive a written notice in the mail for legitimate bills before being called directly. Government agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service will not call directly asking for payment over the phone and will not call you to say you will be arrested unless you pay a fine.
8. Ask your phone company about ways to block scam phone calls. Information about blocking robocalls is available here.

If you think you have been the victim of a scam, call the Attorney General's consumer protection unit by calling 401-274-4400 or visiting their website.